The cunning Fugitive is swift by stealth :
Too fubtle is the Movement to be feen;
Yet foon Man's Hour is up, and we are gone.
Warnings point out our Danger; Gnomons, Time:
As these are useless when the Sun is fet;
So thofe, but when more glorious Reafon fhines.
Reafon fhould judge in all; in Reafon's Eye,
That Sedentary Shadow travels hard.
But fuch our Gravitation to the Wrong,
So prone our Hearts to whisper what we wish,
'Tis later with the Wife, than he's aware;
A WILMINGTON goes flower than the Sun;
And all Mankind mistake their Time of Day;
Ev'n Age itself. Fresh Hopes are hourly fown
In furrow'd Brows. So gentle Life's Defcent
We fhut our Eyes, and think it is a Plain.
We take fair Days in Winter, for the Spring;
And turn our Bleffings into Bane. Since oft
Man muft compute that Age He cannot feel,
He scarce believes He's older for his Years.
Thus, at Life's latest Eve, we keep in Store
One Disappointment fure, to crown the Reft;
The Disappointment of a promis'd Hour.
On This, or Similar, PHILANDER! Thou Whose Mind was Moral, as the Preacher's Tongue; And strong, to wield all Science, worth the Name; How often we talk'd down the Summer's Sun, And cool'd our Paffions by the breezy Stream ?
How often thaw'd, and fhorten'd Winter's Eve,
By Conflict kind, that ftruck out latent Truth,
Best found, fo fought; to the Reclufe more Coy!
Thoughts disentangle paffing o'er the Lip;
Clean runs the Thread, if not, 'tis thrown away,
Or kept to tie up Nonfenfe for a Song;
Song, fashionably fruitless! such as stains
The Fancy, and unhallow'd Passion fires;
Chiming her Saints to Cytherea's Fane.
Know'ft thou, LORENZO! what a Friend contains?
As Bees mixt Nectar draw from fragrant Flow'rs,
So Men from FRIENDSHIP, Wisdom and Delight;
Twins ty'd by Nature, if they part, they die.
Haft thou no Friend to fet thy Mind abroach?
Good Senfe will stagnate. Thoughts shut up, want Air,
And Spoil, like Bales unopen'd to the Sun.
Had Thought been All, fweet Speech had been deny'd;
Speech, Thought'sCanal! Speech,Thought's Criterion too!:
Thought in the Mine, may come forth Gold or Dross;
When coin'd in Word, we know its real Worth.
If fterling, store it for thy future Use;
"Twill buy thee Benefit; perhaps, Renown.
Thought, too, deliver'd, is the more poffeft;
Teaching, we learn; and, giving, we retain
The Births of Intellect; when dumb, forgot,
Speech ventilates our Intellectual Fire;
Speech burnishes our Mental Magazine;
Brightens, for Ornament; and whets, for Use,
What Numbers, fheath'd in Erudition, lie,
Plung'd to the Hilts in venerable Tomes,
And rusted in; who might have borne an Edge,
And play'd a sprightly Beam, if born to Speech;
If born bleft Heirs of half their Mother's Tongue!
'Tis Thought's Exchange, which, like th' alternate Push
Of Waves conflicting, breaks the learned Scum,
And defecates the Students standing Pool.
In Contemplation is his proud Refource?
'Tis poor, as proud, by Converse unfustain’d.
Rude Thought runs wild in Contemplation's Field;
Converse, the Menage, breaks it to the Bit
Of due Reftraint; and Emulation's Spur
Gives graceful Energy, by Rivals aw'd.
'Tis Converse qualifies for Solitude;
As Exercise, for falutary Reft.
By That untutor'd, Contemplation raves
A Lunar Prince, or famifh'd Beggar dies;
And Nature's Fool, by Wisdom's is outdone.
Wisdom, tho' richer than Peruvian Mines,
And sweeter than the fweet Ambrofial Hive,
What is fhe, but the Means of Happiness?
That unobtain'd, than Folly more a Fool;
A melancholy Fool, without her Bells.
Friendship the Means, and Friendship richly gives
The precious End, which makes our Wisdom wife.
Nature, in Zeal for human Amity,
Denies, or damps an undivided Joy.
Joy is an Import; Joy is an Exchange;
Joy flies Monopolifts: It calls for Two;
Rich Fruit! heav'n-planted! never pluckt by One.
Needful Auxiliars are our Friends, to give
To focial Man true Relifh of himself.
Full on ourselves defcending in a Line
Pleafure's bright Beam, is feeble in Delight:
Delight intenfe, is taken by Rebound;
Reverberated Pleasures fire the Breaft.
Celestial Happiness, whene'er fhe ftoops
To vifit Earth, One Shrine the Goddefs finds,
And One alone, to make her fweet Amends
For abfent Heav'n-the Bofom of a Friend;
Where Heart meets Heart reciprocally foft,
Each other's Pillow to Repofe divine.
Beware the Counterfeit: In Paffion's Flame
Hearts melt; but melt like Ice, foon harder froze.
True Love strikes Root in Reafon; Paffion's Foe;
Virtue alone entenders us for Life:
her much-entenders us for ever.
Of Friendship's faireft Fruits, the Fruit most fair
Is Virtue kindling at a Rival Fire,
And, emulously, rapid in her Race.
O the foft Enmity! Endearing Strife!
This carries Friendship to her Noon-tide Point,
And gives the Rivet of Eternity.
From Friendship, which outlives my former Themes, Glorious Survivor of old Time, and Death!
From Friendship, thus, that Flow'r of Heav'nly Seed,
The Wife extract Earth's moft Hyblean Bliss,
Superior Wisdom, crown'd with fmiling Joy;
For Joy, from Friendship born, abounds in Smiles.
O ftore it in the Soul's moft golden Cell!
But for whom bloffoms this Elyfran Flower;
Abroad They find, who cherish it, at Home.
LORENZO! pardon what my Love extorts,
An honeft Love, and not afraid to frown.
Tho' Choice of Follies faften on the Great,
None clings more obftinate, than Fancy fond,
That facred Friendfhip is their eafy Prey;
Caught by the Wafture of a Golden Lure;
Or Fascination of a high-born Smile.
Their Smiles, the Great, and the Coquet, throw out
For Others Hearts, tenacious of their Own;
And we no lefs of ours, when fuch the Bait.
Ye Fortune's Cofferers! Ye Pow'rs of Wealth!
You do your Rent-rolls most felonious Wrong,
By taking our Attachment to Fourfelves.
Can Gold gain Friendship? Impudence of Hope!
As well mere Man an Angel might beget.
Love, and Love only, is the Loan for Love.
LORENZO! Pride reprefs; nor hope to find
A Friend, but what has found a Friend in Thee.
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